As a temporary halt on new outdoor dining structures looms in Hoboken, one councilman wants to go a step further by tearing down all current “parklets” until next spring in an effort to curb the city’s well-documented rat infestation.
The timing of the three legislative proposals comes just a week before Election Day, where the city’s six wards, including Russo’s Third Ward, are up for election, and could make parklets a wedge issue as voters head to the polls. In his veto statement, Bhalla cited a letter from the Hoboken Business Alliance that opposed the ordinance because parklets generate “meaningful additional income and employment” to establishments and that there is no “significant or clear data” linking parklets to rat activity.
Russo denied that his proposed legislation has anything to do with the election, even though he did make removing all of the city’s parklets. He said Monday the issue has “everything to do with the quality of life in Hoboken. Anyone who’s making claim otherwise, shame on them.” “If required to remove the parklet, allows for a stability that an uncovered ‘streatery’ doesn’t allow for, we’ve been told that they’re going to have to contract their business,” Earley said.
Councilman Ruben Ramos, meanwhile, supports Russo’s proposed ban. While he said there was “some merit” to Earley’s argument, he added that there’s “some merit to the fact that a taxpayer living in our city also wants to see a better job of us cleaning our city up.”